My Merchant Account Blog - First Data Terminates More Employees

First Data Terminates More Employees

Friday, December 25, 2009

Are you still using First Data to help you accept credit cards in your retail business or on the Internet? If so, chances are you might have noticed more problems with their services. Last month, First Data terminated more employees that have been in working with them for years, these employees having thousands of hours of irreplaceable experience. First Data does this usually every November. Unfortunately, most large companies do this to hire new employees at a lower pay grade to save money. However, this process brings the company employees with less knowledge of this ever-changing industry. This will create problems sooner or later with your merchant account - you might notice that your deposit is a day late or it takes longer for customer service to answer the phone (and then once you get a representative on the phone, it usually takes longer to handle your business).

Yes, these are little things, but they build up. Your time is wasted on the phone, trying to get a simple answer to your question. At what point do you consider changing merchant account providers? Changing merchant account providers can be easy for some merchants and difficult for others.

I understand that businesses are in business to make money, but aren't you tired of paying more money for your merchant account and not getting anything more (like added fraud features)? First Data reported $2.4 billion for the third quarter in 2009, up 13%. This was contributed to Bank of America Merchant Services alliance as well.

First, take a look at what First Data and their electronic payment gateway (LinkPoint / Your Pay / First Data Global Gateway) offers to its Internet merchants to help prevent fraudulent transactions and chargebacks. If you compare this electronic payment gateway to another, like the Quantum Gateway, there is no comparison. The First Data Global Gateway offers you Basic Fraud Prevention Tools - Address Verification Service (AVS) and CAV2 / CVC2 / CID / CVV2 verification. Unfortunately, these days, an Internet merchant needs a lot more to help prevent fraudulent transactions and chargebacks, for example:

GeoIP - One provider is MaxMind and this utility is built into the Quantum Gateway.
DialVerify - A utility that can automatically call your customer to help scrub the transaction. This fraud prevention tool is built into the Quantum Gateway and offered at no additional charge.
Verified by Visa (VBV) / MasterCard Secure Code (MSC) - Another feature which can prevent certain chargebacks from some card associations. Since this is built into the Quantum Gateway the checkout process is easier than having to add this feature on as a third party application. (Verified By Visa (VBV) - MasterCard Secure Code (MSC): Things You Should Know)

For the past three years at least, First Data has been talking about new product development and one has to wonder when this will take place? They have offered a few new features, but of course, these features come with a price. Other electronic payment gateway will offer these features at no extra charge to the merchant.

It has been rumored that Wal-Mart is very unhappy with First Data. Some people have been looking to start a processor just for Wal-Mart alone. In the meantime, consider what your time, products, and services are worth the next time you have an issue with your First Data merchant account.